One commonly used type of electrical terminal has a ferrule portion and a receptacle portion, the ferrule portion being crimped onto a conductor wire, and the receptacle portion being adapted to receive a generally rectangular tab on a mating conductor to which the conductor wire is to be connected. The receptacle may be either straight or of the flag type. Terminals of this general type are often used in appliance and automotive wiring for the reasons that they accept a standard type of rectangular tab which is widely used in the industry. Under some circumstances it is desirable to insulate terminals of this type, particularly where a shock hazard or danger of short circuit exists. Terminals of this type are relatively inexpensive and therefore the means used for insulating the terminals and the cost of applying the insulating means to the terminals should also be relatively low.
Prior art terminals and machines for applying these terminals are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,380,140 issued Apr. 30, 1968 and also in U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,212 issued Dec. 17, 1968. As can be seen from these patents the insulating housings initially have two hingedly connected housing parts. Furthermore, these clam-shell housings are customarily provided to the apparatus in strip form, there being a plurality of open housings which are interconnected to each other by a common carrier which is connected to one end of the plurality of housings remote from the hinge. The insulating housings shown in these patents are designed for receiving terminals of the flag type wherein the receptacle portion extends laterally from the axis of the wire. They are not particularly suitable for receiving terminals having straight receptacle portions of the type which receives the connector tab in line with the axis of the wire as it is somewhat difficult to sever the connecting strip from the insulating housing after it has been secured to a straight receptacle as the connector strip must be severed in the area of the conductor wire. Furthermore, the apparatus shown in these two patents requires manual feeding of the terminals, the terminals being fed across the ends of the terminal until they are suitably inserted within the housing parts. This form of apparatus does not lend itself to machine conveying of leads which have the terminals fixed thereto to the applicator station.
In co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 427,746 there is a disclosure of a succession of insulation housings in the form of a continuous strip of housings in spaced apart, side by side relationship where adjacent clam-shell housings are connected to each other by a central connecting strip which also functions as a hinge between the two housing parts and also interconnects corresponding housing parts of adjacent housings. This form of housing can more readily be assembled about straight receptacle terminals which have previously been secured to lead wires. The method of applying the housings as disclosed in the aforementioned patent application involves fully closing together the respective two housing parts of each of the housings prior to the arrival of the housings at the assembly station and then allowing the housing parts of the leading housing to slightly open at the assembly station. The terminated end of the conductor wire is then manually fed through the open ends of the housing parts by moving the conductor wire axially, after which the housing parts are assembled together about the terminated ends of the wire.
The apparatus disclosed by the aforementioned Patent Application for carrying out the disclosed method is believed to be satisfactory for its intended purpose, that being as a semi-automatic bench type of applicator. However, the design of this apparatus does not lend itself to a more fully automatic operation wherein the terminated ends of the conductor wires are fed laterally between the sides of partially open housing parts. The required hand feeding of the terminated ends of the conductor wires to the applicator appears to inherently limit the possibility of achieving any further increases in production rates above a range of 1500 to 2000 housing applications per hour and thus inherently limits the possibility of further reductions in the costs of applying the housings. As the housing parts of the leading housing at the assembly station are only open within a range of 30.degree. to 45.degree. , the approach path along which the terminated wire is moved is substantially limited to a front end feed path disclosed in the aforementioned patent application. Furthermore, difficulty will be encountered in trying to design apparatus which will automatically feed the terminated ends of the wire between the housing parts at production rates above the aforementioned range when the housing parts are initially in their slightly open position irrespective of the direction of feed of the terminated ends relative to the housing parts.
The aforementioned limitations and difficulties of the semi-automatic bench type of applicator apparatus disclosed by the aforementioned Patent Application are substantially overcome by the apparatus disclosed in the present application. The automatic nature of the apparatus disclosed in this application and the substantially higher production rate achieved thereby is, in part, accomplished by disposing the housing parts initially at the assembly station of this apparatus in an open position wherein lateral movement of the terminal into the housing area may be advantageously accomplished. In the invention disclosed by the first and second co-pending applications cross-referenced above, each relates to a method and apparatus incorporated into one embodiment of the disclosed apparatus which further contributes to the automatic nature of the apparatus and the substantially higher production rate achieved thereby.